Excerpt: Epochs - a struggle with time

Pir looked through the trees. The deer was right there. It would be an easy kill. There would be meat for all tonight. He changed his position to get a better shot at the deer. It was well within range, but it was only presenting its hindquarters. He needed to get a shot into the neck if he did not want to chase the deer through the dense jungle.

The deer was situated on the near edge of a rare clearing. The jungle was so thick around here that even during the brightest of days, things were easily hidden in the dark shadows. This clearing was an anomaly, and for Pir and his fellow hunters, an important landmark for them to find their way back home after the hunt. The brightness provided by the sun into the clearing was sharp, and somewhat painful to tolerate. But Pir and his hunting partner knew that they had to endure the discomfort of the bright sun if they wanted to have a deer killed this close to the family grounds.

He continued to move to his left, not that he considered it a broad move. He took the slow meticulous steps that concealed his movement from the deer, yet brought that deer within a better shot of his arrow. Slowly, one foot, hand and knee at a time. He climbed over fallen wood, rocks and across moist moss, making his way. He identified a perfect shooting spot, a mere five body lengths away. It was close, but it was exposed. He would have to be at his most careful now.

Pir's partner followed almost in the same footprints Pir had left. Pir's look back and nod toward the clearing saw a smile of recognition with his partner. Dur understood exactly what Pir intended. The pair of them slinked as the dreaded snakes over the terrain until after what seemed like a whole day, the two of them were in the perfect spot.

Pir grabbed an arrow from his hip pouch and notched it into his bow. He did this with the slow, practiced pace that was earned on a hundred unsuccessful hunts before he got his first deer. He looked at Dur who was likewise preparing an arrow for the deer. They knew that Pir would shoot first, and if necessary, Dur would shoot a second later.

Feeling pressed, but not pressured, Pir dipped the tip of the arrow into a small gourd he also carried around his waist. The gourd contained a poison; Pir knew that. How it was prepared or what it exactly consisted of, Pir was completely unaware. That was Gam's knowledge. Gam was good at knowing that stuff.

The deer looked up, and looked around. It was sensing something. The two hunters froze. Pir hoped that it had not yet sensed him as he really needed to get the deer for meat for the family. It had not been a good season. Although the family was not starving, they had known hunger this year unlike before. Pir was certain that this would be the last season with the family group this big. There were over three full hands of people in the group, and never had it been that big. His father had formed this family group before he was born. And until this year, food had not been an issue. The men of the family fished, hunted and collected berries and fruits. The woman of the group cooked and prepared the food. However, there had not been a lot of food for the women to cook this season.

The wind shifted and the deer slowly went back to eating the grass on the near edge of the clearing. Pir relaxed a bit, looked over at Dur, and realised that he too had been holding his breath. In another minute, with the luck of harmony on their side, they would be standing over that deer.

Pir, repositioned the bow in his hands. He knotched the arrow one more time. He had fired hundreds of arrows, and despite the routineness of it all, he still felt the twinge of unease before shooting.

It was not the unease of taking the life of another creature that he felt. That was all part of harmony. The deer ate the plants. People would eat the deer. The people died and turned to dirt. The dirt fed the plants. Without one of these, the harmony would not be achieved. And harmony was imperative for survival. And things had been out of harmony this season. There had been fewer fish, fewer berries and fewer animals to eat.

The unease he felt was the hunger he knew his family group would suffer if they did not get this deer. The family had sent every male in the group out today to get food. Even those not quite old enough to bear the burden of feeding the family. He and Dur were out getting meat, seven were out to the great water to get fish, and five were sent to the forest to get berries and fruit. The berries, fruit and fish would feed them, but the meat from a deer would fill them. He needed to get the deer.
One last look at Dur told him that he was waiting for too long. Pulling the string taught with the arrow, he slowly raised his body. The deer was not aware. As he used his well toned muscles to draw back on the bow, the deer moved. It sensed him.

Pir let loose the arrow. He was merely six body lengths from the deer. There was no way he could have missed.

But the deer, as soon as Pir let go of the arrow, jumped to escape.

Dur yelled a cry of enthusiasm, trying to stop the deer with the sheer power of his voice. He loosed his arrow as the deer bound towards the far end of the clearing. Pir and Dur jumped out of their hunting spot and raced down a small hill to the clearing. They would track the deer. Pir knew that he had hit it. How could he have missed. Without a word, the two hunters started off across the clearing following the path of the deer, visible in the grass.

They trotted as fast as they possibly could, not trying to wind themselves, but not wanting the deer to get too great a distance ahead of them. Voices sheathed, their breath became raspy, but steady. Their one saving grace on this hunt was that they found the deer so close to their family grounds that they were familiar with the surroundings. They entered the dark shadows at the far end of the clearing and were immediately bathed in the discomfort of confusion. They could not immediately identify the signs of passage that the deer would have left.

The two of them stopped, caught their breath and looked around. They were looking for any sign, footprint, disturbed earth or broken branch that would tell them the direction the deer took upon entering the dark jungle. The two hunters spread out and looked around. Pir, fearing that he had missed the deer, was beginning to think that harmony had left them altogether. His eyes were adjusting quite well, and the details of the jungle were clear. The deep mossy soil, the bare earth, the large ferns, the rough bark on trees. These all were ideal to track animals, if you could identify the tracks initially. His father Mos had taught him how to track animals. Now, he needed to use these skills.

Then he saw it. He looked at the tree just to his front. At hip level, he could see deer fur stuck to the rough bark. His quarry had hit this tree. Probably had not seen it coming in from the bright of the clearing, where it had grazed for quite a while. He barked, and Dur came over. Pir indicated to Dur the fur, and the two of them then looked for the next indication that their prey had moved on. Dur squealed. There was a mark a little more than a body length away into the woods. It was hoof prints. They were on track.

The two of them started their trot, but at a slower pace to allow their eyes to identify any indications which might provide for them guidance to find their prey. There were broken ferns, the deer ran that way. They spied disturbed mud near a small watercourse showing that the deer had bounded that way. The moss a little further on was freshly disturbed. They were getting all the indications that harmony could provide.

Onward they ran. The two of them, feeling more and more like they were chasing a healthy, fast deer, could not let themselves give up the chase. After all, they needed the meat. Over a small rise they crested and came into another clearing. This was much smaller, than the other one nearer the family grounds, but still big enough to blind them again as they entered it. It was not as bright as before, but still bright enough that they had to shield their eyes from the overhead sun. As Pir lifted his hand to his eyes, the temprorary relief felt great. He looked to the other end of the clearing and saw something that did not seem in place in that clearing.

Pointing it out to Dur, the two of them raced over. As they approached the item, they felt their relief bubble over. On the ground, still trying to move, was the deer. Its head bobbling like a newborn's its glassy eyes were not registering anything around it. Dur, feeling the strength of a young hunter in his arms, bent over and slit its throat to bleed the animal. As its lifeblood drained into the earth to become dirt once again, Dur heard Pir speak for the first time since they embarked on this hunt. It was a word that Dur himself felt, and it was a word that needed to be said at such an important time.

Pir, in a moment of relief, joy and acceptance, had muttered the word "Harmony."